Oct. 31, 2009

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Samford football team gave up 21 fourth-quarter points as the Bulldogs fell at The Citadel, 28-16, in a Southern Conference contest Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

"You have to give The Citadel the credit," Samford head coach Pat Sullivan said. "They are playing with some confidence. When they beat Furman last week and we knew they had some things we needed to stop. Number one was on special teams, their punt returns. You look at the second half, and number five (Andre Roberts) made two big plays that turned the game around."

The Citadel was led by Tommy Edwards, who came into the game late in the second quarter when starting quarterback Miguel Starks left the game with an injury. Edwards completed 10-of-20 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Andre Roberts caught seven passes for 54 yards. Cortez Allen had two interceptions to lead The Citadel defense.

For Samford, junior running back Chris Evans rushed 17 times for 52 yards and a touchdown. Evans' performance made him only the second player in Samford history to rush for over 3,000 yards in a career. Evans now has 3,017 career rushing yards, placing him just 105 yards away from Samford's career record of 3,122, set by Jerome Russell from 1996 to 1999.

Sophomore quarterback Dustin Taliaferro completed 21-of-34 passes for 130 yards and an interception. Redshirt freshman quarterback Connor Lowery replaced Taliaferro late in the fourth quarter completing 8-of-11 passes for 94 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Senior wide receiver Jonathan Lowery caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Junior linebacker Bryce Smith led the Samford defense with nine tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Cody Crowell also had a fumble recovery for Samford.

Samford jumped on top first when Evans scored on a one-yard run on Samford's opening drive of the game. Cameron Yaw's extra-point gave Samford a 7-0 lead with 10:17 to go in the first quarter. The drive was set up by a 36-yard punt return by Richie Fordham giving Samford the ball at The Citadel 30-yard line.

Samford pushed its lead to 10-0 when Yaw kicked a 24-yard field goal with 4:29 to go in the first quarter. The Samford drive started at The Citadel 10-yard line after Crowell recovered a fumbled punt return by The Citadel's Roberts.

The Citadel got on the scoreboard when Edwards hit Van Dyke Jones for a 55-yard touchdown. Sam Keeler added the extra point to cut the Samford lead to 10-7 with 7:29 to go in the third quarter.

The Citadel took the lead when Edwards hit Alex Sellars on an 11-yard touchdown with 10:06 to go in the fourth quarter. Keller's PAT gave The Citadel a 14-10 lead.

The Citadel extended its lead to 21-10 when Terrell Dallas scored on a five-yard run with 4:38 to go in the game. The score was set up when Allen intercepted a Taliaferro pass and returned it 30 yards to the Samford five yard line.

Allen put the game away for The Citadel when he intercepted a Connor Lowery pass and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown with 2:41 to go in the game. Keeler's extra point gave The Citadel a 28-10 lead.

Samford put the final points on the scoreboard when Connor Lowery hit Jonathan Lowery for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:49 to go in the game. The two-point conversion attempt failed to make the final score 28-16.

With the loss, Samford drops to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in SoCon play. The Citadel improves to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in league play.

Samford will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 7, when the Bulldogs play host to Georgia Southern for Samford's 2009 Homecoming game. The game is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff from Seibert Stadium.